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Andrew Solomon

Anne McElvoy meets writer Andrew Solomon whose new book examines parents who not only learn to deal with their exceptional children but also find profound meaning in doing so.

Anne McElvoy is joined by Geoffrey Robertson QC who pays tribute to American philosopher and constitutional law expert Ronald Dworkin, who died today aged 81. He was one of the best known and most quoted legal scholars in the English speaking world and hailed as the most original legal philosopher of his generation.

We also hear from the award winning author, Andrew Solomon, about his monumental study of modern identity - Far From the Tree -- a book praised not just for its ample and vivid account of human resilience but also for its compassion.

Writer and historian Joanna Bourke reviews Complicit, Channel 4's new feature-length drama, which explores the moral dilemma facing an MI5 officer over the use of torture in the War on Terror.

Did brutal conquest rather than political liberation lie at the heart of Italian unification? Historian Lucy Riall uses the discovery of a new archive to shed more light on a murderous peasant revolt and its brutal suppression in the Sicilian town of Bronte in 1860 - and explores the role of Lord Nelson's descendants in this tragic episode.

Available now

45 minutes

Chapters

  • Ronald Dworkin

    Geoffrey Robertson QC pays tribute to Ronald Dworkin.

    Duration: 08:45

  • Andrew Solomon

    Andrew Solomon discusses his monumental study of modern identity, Far From the Tree.

    Duration: 16:00

  • Complicit

    Writer and historian Joanna Bourke reviews Channel 4's feature-length drama, Complicit.

    Duration: 07:21

  • Lucy Riall

    Historian Lucy Riall discusses the 1860 peasant revolt in the Sicilian town of Bronte.

    Duration: 12:40

Andrew Solomon

Far From The Tree: A Dozen Kinds of Love written by Andrew Solomon is published by Chatto & Windus.

Lucy Riall

Under the Volcano: Empire and Revolution in a Sicilian Town written by Lucy Riall is published by OUP Oxford.

Complicit

Complicit will be broadcast on Channel 4 on Sunday 17 February.

Broadcast

  • Thu 14 Feb 2013 22:00

Free Thinking

Free Thinking

Radio 3’s new home for arts and ideas.